Do you leave your girth buckled onto your saddle?

Woolly Hat n Wellies

Woolly Hat n Wellies

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My mum shares my horse, which works really well as we tend to do things the same way. Apart from one thing. My mum takes the saddle off by undoing the girth at one side, taking the saddle off, and folding the girth back over the top. I undo both sides, put the girth over the saddle, and then remove the whole lot. I don't like the saddle sitting with the girth buckled on one side and then folded back. My mum doesn't like having to buckle the girth on at both sides every time. I'm not going to argue about it because it's of no real importance, I just roll my eyes when I find it isn't the way I like it. But, I have a little niggle at the back of my mind that it's my horse and my saddle, bought with my money, so if I would like it stored on a silk cushion, softly lit with fairy lights and fanned with a gentle coconut-scented breeze, then that would be up to me... but it's my mum so I don't say so!

So I was just wondering... how do you keep yours?
 
I am the same as you. Girth off and tucked into stirrups to keep it tidy. I don't want my saddle bent out of shape by a girth always being buckled to it!!
 
If I am riding frequently I do as your mum does and leave it buckled on one side and pulled over. But if I'm not using the saddle much I take it off completely and lie it over the top
 
Mine comes off, saddle cover goes on and then the girth gets tucked into the little pockets that I have stitched into each side of the saddle cover. I hate the leather being scrawped by a dirty girth being rubbed all over it...
 
I always undo mine at both sides, I wish I were organised enough to use the saddle cover but I do always undo the girth.
 
in the winter I do the same as your mum, to save time. In the summer I tend to wipe the girth off every time I ride, so then it comes off the saddle and hung separately to dry.
 
Girth off. It is very close to the ground and always disgusting so has to be cleaned everytime anyway.
 
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I don't unbuckle it but I always end up having to undo the buckles anyway to girth up. But the girth would go missing if it wasn't attached lol
 
usually girth off. I sometimes leave the long girth on if it's reasonably clean. My short girths always come off. One of my saddles is used on 2 horses and they have different girths and saddle pads anyway, so it all comes off then :)
 
Only unbuckle one side throw over and chuck cover on unless really muddy then off to be cleaned.

My real bug is people that don't wash bits......now would you want to eat with dirty utensils
....just thought I would mention it! :)
 
Girth off, saddle cover on and saddle cloth off. I even have a pair of stirrup covers, but they are a bit too much of a faff. Its a dressage saddle with a fairfax girth, it can't really be left on without twisting a lot of leather!
 
_OC_ said:
Only unbuckle one side throw over and chuck cover on unless really muddy then off to be cleaned.

My real bug is people that don't wash bits......now would you want to eat with dirty utensils
....just thought I would mention it! :)
Click to expand...

Horses eat other horses poo. I don't think they mind an unwashed bit.
 
Girth off. Used to leave it on, but noticed a crease in the saddle flap from where it was folded back. Love the saddle too much for that (although I now ride on a Thorn Pad!).
 
_OC_ said:
Only unbuckle one side throw over and chuck cover on unless really muddy then off to be cleaned.

My real bug is people that don't wash bits......now would you want to eat with dirty utensils

....just thought I would mention it! :)
Click to expand...

I'm the same, can't stand dirty bits.!

I tend to take the girth off as its generally wet and muddy.
 
I never used to and when I was working with horses, time was always of the essence, so unless a girth needed washing we never did undo both sides aside from for tack cleaning. That was across four different yards (five including home)!

I probably will with my own though. There's no reason not to and several reasons for it to be beneficial.
 
Never put a saddle away with girth still attached, ruins the girth and the saddle.
Always a clean bit too. At Pony Club there was an instructor who advocated warming the bit before putting it in the horses mouth! She was known as 'warm the bit Valerie' !!
 
I take my girth of every time, it usually needs washing anyway, absolutely would not put a wet/muddy girth over a saddle!
If I ride someone else's horse I ask them if they're present, or leave it how I found it if they're not.
 
hahah ponyclubmumz that's so funny!!

I'm the same I always leave it on! I have a curved gift now, and if I took it off I know I'd forget which way it was supposed to go on!

I put the saddle cover on then lay the girth on that, rather than on the leather!
 
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